Brush-up on Dalkeith artists

Dalkeith Arts will hold their annual exhibition later this month so they gathered with their work at The Riccio Gallery for a promo pic 08/10/18

Locals artists from Dalkeith Arts are gearing up for the group's annual exhibition, giving people the opportunity to see and purchase their work.

The autumn exhibition at Riccio Gallery on South Street will run from October 27 until November 10, with a preview event on Friday, October 26.

Dalkeith Arts chair Mary Blair is looking forward to it.

She said: “I suppose the exciting thing is you never know what to expect. We have works from people from all different aspects of life. For some it’s their hobby, some have been painting for a long time, while some are complete beginners.

“It’s really about a community of artists in and around the Dalkeith area. We get everything. Different types of paintings. We also include crafts.

“It will bring a little bit of colour into their autumn. You could be really lucky and pick up a fantastic piece of art for not very much money at all.

“You will meet artists in their every day.

“It could also ignite a spark. That’s what happened to me. I went along and met people at an exhibition and now I’m chair of Dalkeith Arts!

“We want to make it as welcoming as possible. Come in and enjoy it. It costs absolutely nothing and you might have a very nice time.”

Mary is delighted to be giving local artists the chance to shine. She said: “It’s quite a scary thing to take your stuff and exhibit it. So we have been trying to encourage more people to do it.

“We approached a group at Garvald in Mayfield to exhibit stuff, which will give them more confidence.

“It’s about sharing the wealth of talent in the community. It doesn’t matter if you are sitting at your granny’s table drawing, or in your 70s or 80s creating some form of art.

“The next step is to actually share it with people.”